BEREA, OHIO – JULY 30: Deshaun Watson #4 of the Cleveland Browns seems on throughout the Cleveland Browns Coaching Camp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus on July 30, 2026 in Berea, Ohio. (Photograph by Nick Cammett/Getty Pictures) | Getty Pictures
The Cleveland Browns, and by extension their followers, are so shut that they’ll attain out and nearly contact it.
4-and-a-half years after the Browns made their confessed “big swing and miss” on quarterback Deshaun Watson, the top is nearly right here as Watson enters the ultimate 12 months of his five-year, totally assured contract.
All of the Browns need to do is let the 2026 season play out, and as soon as the ultimate whistle blows on January 10, pack up Watson’s locker and have the contents delivered to him whereas the workforce prepares for an additional offseason of quarterback looking.
It’s all proper there for the taking, one thing so easy that there isn’t any method anybody might mess this up.
Besides, what if Watson performs properly sufficient this fall that the Browns persuade themselves he’s worthy of one other contract?
Basic supervisor Andrew Berry didn’t precisely shut the door on that situation whereas assembly with the media at coaching camp this week. With the concept Watson has no future with the Browns previous this season, Berry was requested why not simply play one other quarterback?
“I wouldn’t rule anything out in terms of the whole quarterback-of-the-future discussion. Ultimately, we’re going to play the player who’s the most productive on the field. I think Deshaun is only 30. There’s no need to make any decisions about the future right now. We’ll let it play out and figure it out as we go.”
Proprietor Jimmy Haslam had the chance to place this all to relaxation on Friday throughout his media session, however wouldn’t fully rule out the seemingly inconceivable concept of Watson being round previous this season:
“I think there are all kinds of possibilities out there — so, yes. But here again, we’ve got to get through practice. Somebody might have a great year, and they’re our quarterback forever, or neither of them might. I think it’s way, way, way early to be talking about who’s going to be our quarterback next year — we’ve got to figure out who’s going to start the first game.”
These are each respectable sufficient solutions from Berry and Haslam, because it is smart to not alienate a participant chances are you’ll want this fall or tip your hand in your plans.
However given every thing he has gone by since arriving on the town – the 11-game suspension from the NFL, shoulder surgical procedure, two tears of his Achilles tendon, and one of many largest drop-offs in manufacturing in NFL history- there isn’t any method that Watson would need to stick with the Browns one second longer than is critical.
Proper?
Deshaun Watson can be open to signing a brand new contract with the #Browns when the present one expires after this season. "My wife and I have a house on the East Side. We love Cleveland." pic.twitter.com/PKhx9VcMaw
— Jeff Schudel (@jsproinsider) August 1, 2026
Nicely … that’s not how Watson is presently approaching the state of affairs, as he defined throughout his media session on Saturday:
“When I first got here, there was a lot of stuff going on as the world knows. I don’t have any bad feelings toward Cleveland; I love Cleveland. Me and my wife have a house on the East Side; we were around all summer. I haven’t had a bad experience outside of some different times in the stadium. I don’t know why that narrative is out there that people think I don’t like Cleveland. If the opportunity shows up, we’ll see where it goes.”
Admittedly, that is all untimely as there’s loads of soccer to be performed earlier than the Browns need to resolve on Watson’s future. However that is nonetheless the identical franchise that has bungled each quarterback it has made since 1999, together with:
not constructing an offensive line for Tim Sofa
utilizing first-round draft picks on Brady Quinn, Brandon Weeden and Johnny Manziel,
mismanaging the ultimate years of Baker Mayfield’s time with the workforce,
feeling it must “bend the knee” to the household of a fifth-round draft decide with a questionable future.
So till they show in any other case, it could be greatest to carry off on sending any goodbye playing cards to a sure veteran quarterback.
